Julian summits!

Julian, Dawa and Da'Oangchu summitted Mt Everest 30 May 2005!

It's two days since summiting and still completely exhilarated - I hope this feeling lasts!

Text and photos by Julian

27 May - to North Col

Duncan en route to the North Col, a classic shot by Julian

29 May

Duncan and I left the North Col (7000m) on the morning of the 29th and climbed quickly up the now familiar snow slopes and rocks of the North Ridge to a tent at 7800m (Camp 2) where we rested for a few hours. We boiled water, tested oxygen and tried to eat, but sleep was impossible due the anticipation of what was to come. Night fell at last and we left at 9pm for the summit camp at 8300m where Dawa and Da'Oangchu, the sherpas, were waiting for us. They had thought that trying to go for the summit in one push from low on the mountain was unlikely to be possible and rather skeptically had gone up ahead to spend nights at 7700m and 8300m in preparation for the summit push if we made it that far! Duncan climbed Mount Everest in 2001 but very sadly his climbing partner died on the descent, Duncan feels due to spending too long high on the mountain and becoming too dehydrated, tired, hypoxic and probably finally succumbing to cerebral oedema. I always seem to have trouble keeping food down at extreme altitude and so am vulnerable to deteriorating rapidly up there so I was open to his plan of minimizing exposure to the dangers of extreme altitude and vicious weather. We ambitiously planned to use our speed and endurance to try and climb the mountain in one push from the North Col, taking breaks at our camps at 7800m and 8300m.

As we moved up the scree and snow from 7800m camp I was moving quicker than Duncan and so he told me to go on ahead rather than annoy him by treading on his heals. I carried on alone in the dark as the route moves off the North Ridge and across the North Face towards the shallow bay on the steep rock slabs where the summit camp sits. I arrived at the 8300m summit camp at 0030hrs 30th May feeling very strong. I waited for Duncan for 1 hour, drinking coffee to stay sharp, before having a chat with Jamie and Duncan by radio and deciding to continue for the summit with Dawa. Da'Oangchu would stay at the camp and then continue with Duncan when he arrived. Sadly Duncan was having problems with his strength at altitude due to a chest infection and a frozen oxygen system. When he arrived at 8300m he was struggling for breath at rest and was left with no option but to stop and try and get his breathing and oxygen improved. After an hour and a half he was still in trouble and realised that he would pushing himself dangerously far if he continued.

Leaving at 0130hrs Dawa and I climbed quickly across snow slopes in the dark from the 8300m camp and then up through the Yellow Band, a steep granite seam that crosses high on Everest. After an hour or so of steep climbing on rock and threads of snow we reached the crest of the North East Ridge and were rewarded with the light of the moon and views down the vast precipice of the Kangshung Face of Everest. We were soon passing climbers, including a tired but very friendly Indian Air Force climber, who had left the summit camp many hours before. Dawa and I sped along the historical landmarks of the First Step, Mushroom Rock and traversed along the dangerous rock ledges above the void of the North Face where Mallory and Irvine were last seen alive. As dawn broke we reached the Second Step, a thirty metre cliff which is considered the crux of the route. We were briefly held up by two other climbers but otherwise had no problem with the technical difficulties and we finished the climb up the new aluminium ladder beside the one that the Chinese placed there in 1975 to bypass the most difficult section.

By this time it was light and the view of the world below was opening up, bathed in the orange morning glow. We were high on the mountain, moving well and in good weather - confidence was growing inside us and the summit pyramid loomed close above us.

We had passed several dead bodies during the climb and as we moved towards the Third Step we came across Marko, the Slovenian climber who had died on the 21st May, the date when Jamie and I had considered making a summit bid in questionable weather. He had died in a beautiful place looking off the corniced edge of the Kangshung Face with wonderful views over Nepal after running out of oxygen and energy. His frozen body is still attached to the ropes and his anguished face and clawed fingers are grotesque. It was an extreme reminder of how close one is to death at that altitude. Although at any one moment you are very much alive, slight disturbances in a number of variables mean that the balance is lost and one is fighting for survival. Thankfully I had lots of strength, good health, a spare bottle of oxygen in my rucksack, great support from Dawa, backup from Jamie lower on the mountain, perfect weather and good luck. I continued, but soberly and very aware of my predicament.

We climbed up the Third Step and then up the snow slopes of the summit pyramid. Another 30 minutes of climbing up rock and snow and we were walking the final steps along the corniced summit ridge with the world falling away from us on all sides and the prayer flags of the summit fluttering ahead.

The light was incredible. The world had a vivid blue hue like photos from space. The snow-capped Himalaya stretched away as far as the eye could see to the East and West. The barren plateau of Tibet, corrugated with brown valleys and white peaks opened up to the North. Nepal with its more fertile valleys and plains filled with morning cloud dropped away to the South. Several of the world's 8000m giant peaks were easily visible below - Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma, Kanchenjunga glowed and cast great shadows in the morning light.

Dawa Gelje, a classic summit pose with the Chinese 2005 survey apparatus.
By Julian.

Dawa has trained for six years as a Buddhist Lama and for him reaching the summit for the second time - he summitted from the South in 2003 - was a intensely religious experience. For the Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhists the mountains are gods and the process of climbing a mountain almost a religious ceremony punctuated by prayers, offerings and pujas. There can be few more spiritual experiences for a devout Sherpa than reaching the summit of Mount Everest or Chomolungma, its Tibetan name. He was profoundly moved and we embraced on the summit in tears.

Julian ecstatic, on top of the world

For my part I felt the most extraordinary euphoria and intense emotion. I had intentionally turned up my oxygen on the summit so that I could feel, see and remember every sensation, view and emotion from the summit. Aesthetically it was sublime. The view seemed so much more beautiful than I could have ever imagined - the light so crisp, the mountains so perfect, the horizon so vast and thankfully the weather so good that the visibility seemed infinite. I felt that I had never seen anything so beautiful. I was overcome with the relief and joy at achieving an ambition that I have held for so long and committed so much to. I felt overwhelmed with love for family and Clara for supporting me in such a damaging dream and for being who you are. I started crying when I thought of my Mother, my Sister and Edward, my step-brother, and the cruel events that have bullied our lives and with relief I knew with certainty that I would not be adding to the tragedies as I was overflowing with energy and strength and knew that I would be safe.

Dawa and Julian; Da'Oangchu summitted later

The summit of Lhotse (8501m, and 4th highest), and center-right climbers coming up from the south side, another classic by Julian.

With only a light breeze to chill the fingers in the -20C air temperature we spent around 45 minutes on the summit. There were two to five people during that time and it was very peaceful. I took lots of photos and a short video of the view and Dawa and I took a few photos of each other. Whilst we were on the summit an Irishman, Humphrey, and an English guy, Ian Wade, arrived, both of whom I knew quite well, but both of whom seemed a little muddled by the low oxygen. They are both safe now in ABC, but Ian collapsed with cerebral oedema at 8500m when descending and was rescued by the sherpas from his team; Humphrey admits to being rather confused on the summit.

Humphrey Murphy (Ireland) stepping up to the summit, by Julian.

Once we had made the decision to descend Dawa and I raced down to minimize our exposure to such a dangerous environment. We were held up by other people at some of the more difficult places to descend such as the Third and Second Step but otherwise we sped past people on easier ground. We had ascended many of the famous landmarks on the route in the dark and I had wanted to take photos of them on the descent but, as I passed them in the light and looked back, I saw clusters of clumsy, hypoxic people in bright down suits struggling to get down and save their lives and decided not to take any pictures. I would rather remember the route as Dawa and I experienced it - harsh and alone in the moonlight.

We made it down to the summit camp at 8300m within a few hours - perhaps at 1000hrs. We had moved so fast to the summit and back and had only needed a low oxygen flow rate on the way that I had only used one of the two bottles of oxygen that I was carrying. People typically use two full bottles to get to the summit and back from the summit camp and their sherpas usually carry a third for emergencies. Moving fast on the mountain gives you so much safety margin compared to many other climbers. You are exposed to danger for so much less time and if things go wrong you can get out of trouble fast. The charming but slow Indian Air Force guy who I mentioned speaking to early on the summit ridge died that day. He ran out of oxygen on the way down, there was a blizzard later that day and his team mates are still looking for him.

After a brew at the tent at 8300m Dawa and I continued down the mountain. We covered the ground that I had climbed during the night before to 7800m. We were both very tired and the clouds were closing in but the lower we could get before stopping the safer we would be. Rather zombie-like, having not slept for well over 24 hours, we stumbled down the mountain looking after each other as we went. We passed the tent at 7800m where Duncan and I had rested the evening before and picked up things that I had left there.

On down through the rocks of the North Ridge to the camp at 7700m. I cleared up a few more things that I left there and then as we descended towards the snow slopes above the North Col we met Jamie, Paul, Namgyal and Moe on their way up for their summit bid. It was great to see friendly faces and feel the warmth of congratulations but it was clearly a difficult time for them. They were on their way up with all the pressure of two months of waiting and preparing to chance their luck with their strength, the weather and all the other things that can go wrong and here were two exhausted team mates with all the uncertainty removed. Tired and ecstatically happy. They were kind in their congratulations but it must have been hard for them.

We continued down the snow slopes to the North Col. Usually it is easy terrain and fast descending but by the early afternoon the blizzard that caught the climbers high on the mountain was blasting the lower mountain and we were walking in wind, snow and zero visibility. Dawa and I were now truly exhausted and needed to stop and sit down every few minutes. Sometimes when we sat down we would fall asleep in the blizzard. The slope continued for ever in the white-out. Without any visual input I repeatedly thought that we were at the bottom and then the gradient under our feet would start sloping off again and we had further to go. Strangely, although it is probably the least technical section of the entire mountain, it became the most psychologically challenging moment of the climb!

Eventually we arrived at North Col camp in the mid afternoon and we wandered dazed through the tents whilst people congratulated us from their sleeping bags through open tent doors. It was all becoming a little surreal. I was brought firmly back to earth when a saw Duncan. He was sitting outside our tent and coughing and wheezing away. He was not in a good state and I felt our success only compounded what must have been intense disappointment for him. The combination of a very erratic acclimatisation program, faulty oxygen equipment and a chest infection had made his decision to turn back from high camp essential for his survival, but it still really hurts - I remember from 2003.

Dawa, Duncan and I rested and drank tea for an hour or so before recovering enough to think about descending from the North Col to ABC. We could have spent the night there but all of us really wanted to finish a massive day in the comfort of a warmish tent and good food rather than spend another night on the ice eating dehydrated food. Another night at such altitude would only delay the much needed recovery. Totally uncommunicative we all managed to struggle back to ABC, arriving around 6pm, and enjoy a long awaited beer before falling asleep over a plate of food!

Now two days later I am feeling much better! I am still completely elated and exhilarated by the experience. No injuries or frostbite. I still feel as if I have been very thoroughly beaten up. Everything hurts and I am really looking forward to the relative luxuries of Kathmandu and the extreme luxuries of home. The yaks come to clear ABC on the 3rd June, we descend to BC on the 4th and then get jeeps to Kathmandu on the 5th. There will be a few things to sort out in Kathmandu and then I think that my flight is on the 8th.

Really looking forward to coming home now and thank you again for all your support!

(From before)

3 June - Sukhi back to ABC

Sukhi made it back to ABC today complete exhausted but she will recover.

This is the last dispatch until we return to Katmandu